


To Have a Friend

by BrenanaBread



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, because that marichat killed me, but I get how others wouldn't see it that way, so I didn't really know what to do, spoilers for season 2 episode 9, tbh I see this as a friendship fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-05 21:21:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13396476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrenanaBread/pseuds/BrenanaBread
Summary: "Wait. You too have heartache?""...yeah..."





	To Have a Friend

**Author's Note:**

> If the marichat balcony scene in season 2 episode 9 went a little differently

“Attends. Toi aussi tu as une peine de cœur?”

“...mouais…”

Chat Noir trailed a claw along the patterned railing he sat on, debating whether or not he should pry. 

“...what happened? If you don’t mind me asking?” he eventually settled on.

Marinette shook her head sadly, pigtails barely bouncing on her shoulders. “It’s stupid,” she said after a pause.

“But it’s not.” Chat hopped off her balcony railing, turning to face her and resting his hip against the cool metal. “It’s never stupid.” He emphasized his words with a light stomp of his foot. “We try to rationalize, tell ourselves how we’re _supposed_ to feel, but that isn’t how feelings work.”

Chat lifted a hand into the air, grasping for words, an explanation that slid in between his gloved fingers, disappearing into the night like a puff of smoke. He shrugged slightly, head lolling to the side, eyes searching the Parisian skyline for answers. “You just...feel how you feel. It’s not a matter of stupid or smart, it just _is_.

Marinette stood still, arms crossed and resting on the railing, eyes focused on some distant point as she dug for the courage to answer his question.

“And it can’t be any dumber than what I did tonight. Getting worked up over this surprise for Ladybug.” He tried to laugh, but it came out scratchy and bitter. “She _told_ me she had plans. I wanted her to come, but I knew the reality of the situation.” He shook his head, hair flopping along his forehead and skimming his eyebrows. “I knew the odds were slim. I’m not a part of her life the way I wish I was and I shouldn’t be upset, I _know_ that.” One hand fell back to grip the railing tightly while the other slowly dragged down his face in exasperation. “But I am. And I’m so sick of getting angry at myself for not feeling the way I’m supposed to feel.” He took a deep breath and let it out, shoulders collapsing in on his body as he rested more fully against the railing, exhausted. “As long as I don’t take it out on anyone else, can’t I have my feelings? Just for tonight?”

Marinette silently considered his words for a moment. She began speaking very gently, stepping out onto thin ice she couldn’t yet see. “There’s...this boy.”

He nodded slowly, inviting her to continue.

“I thought….I _hoped_...I just…” she hung her head and sighed, warm breath fanning her bangs, making them tickle her skin. “You know André? The man with the traveling ice cream stand?”

Chat chose his words carefully. “I’ve heard of him.”

“Then you probably know he specializes in ice cream for...for lovers.” Her cheeks flamed, but she resisted the urge to hide in on herself.

Tension filled the space between them, but Chat pressed on, hoping to ease her discomfort. “I may have heard it mentioned in passing.”

“He crafts them specially for each specific couple. Some friends of mine have been to him and they’re all happily together.” She twisted her torso to face him more fully. “My parents even got engaged over one of his creations.” Her voice was airy and nostalgic, longing for a past she didn’t know.

Chat elbowed her good-naturedly. “He sounds effective.”

Marinette exhaled more forcefully in lieu of a laugh. “Apparently so.” She picked at the edge of her jacket, looking for imperfections that didn’t exist. “I was hoping that this boy, this friend of mine, would come.” She bit her lip. “And we’d share an ice cream together and admire Paris and maybe become...more than friends. Or he’d at least _start_ to think of me differently.” She sighed, resting her chin on her fist. “I don’t know. I just wanted to spend time with him. I wanted to get to know him better and have him get to know me, and the rest fall into place naturally, y’know?”

Chat ducked his head, trying to catch her eyes. “That sounds lovely, Marinette.” He rested a hand on hers, and her face lifted to meet his.

Marinette’s smile was sour. “Maybe it would have been. I don’t know.” His eyes were too intense and she dropped his gaze, moving her hand out from under his, but letting them rest side-by-side, pinkies lightly touching. “And I guess it doesn’t even matter, anyway. He didn’t show up.” 

Her words rang out into the night for a moment, cutting through the sounds of cars and people scurrying below. 

She straightened suddenly and added “Not that I blame him. It wasn’t his fault, his father wouldn’t let him leave,” stumbling over her words as she spoke too quickly “which isn’t even unusual for Gabriel Agreste, Adrien barely ever gets to come to things outside of school events, and even _those_ he sometimes misses for photoshoots and lessons and _god_ I was so stupid to get my hopes up for this, it was a failure from the start.”

The heels of her palms pressed into her eyelids and she shook her head, trying to get rid of the lingering embarrassment she felt like a shroud over her shoulders.

A charged silence draped over the pair, daring either of them to break the mounting tension.

Chat Noir’s back was ramrod straight when Marinette finally peeked out from behind her fingers.

“Chat?” she questioned, reaching out a hand to tentatively touch his shoulder. “Everything all right?”

“F-fine,” his voice cracked and he coughed to clear his throat, shoulders bouncing enough to knock off her hand. He immediately missed its weight and warmth, the physical manifestation of her tenderness. 

“Are you sure? You look spooked.”

He tried to smile, though he knew it looked forced and unnatural. “I promise.”

Marinette raised a brow at him, not pushing for a response, but letting him know she didn’t believe him.

“I, um, know Adrien Agreste,” he added, hoping to placate her.

Wide blue eyes blinked up at him. “Oh.” She shook her head, feeling silly. “Of course you do. He’s had some akumas after him.”

Chat Noir didn’t respond verbally, only shrugged his shoulders and nodded evasively.

But his reaction didn’t sit right with her. Marinette held her tongue, biting back the words that almost sprang from her lips before her brain reined them in, reminding her of the consequences.

She wanted to ask him how he really knew Adrien Agreste.

The last time Ladybug saved Adrien, Chat Noir was nowhere to be found. He'd only shown up _after_ she had found a place for Adrien to hide.

She didn’t think she’d ever seen the two of them together.

Heard them in the same room? Absolutely. But she knew better than almost anyone how to hide in plain sight.

In the back of her mind, a connection stitched together creating a seam so fluid and flawless, it only needed a gentle iron pressing it open before it was perfect.

She couldn’t reveal what she knew without destroying her own anonymity as well.

Marinette wouldn’t confront this. Not yet.

Instead, she walked towards him until they were toe-to-toe, hard boots pressing against her light flats. She leaned forward, slightly raising herself onto the balls of her feet, and wrapped her arms around his neck, slowly bringing his body down to hers.

He was still for only a breath before sliding his arms around her waist, practically dragging her on top of him.

Her arms tightened around his frame, one clinging to the back of his neck as she lightly stroked the hairs that brushed his stiff collar.

One of his hands rested on the small of her back, while the other moved up to her shoulder blades, rubbing circles into her jacket and warming her from her head to her toes.

Chat turned his head into her hair whispering a soft and broken “Thank you.”

Marinette pulled away so she could look him in the eyes, desperate for him to see her sincerity. “You’re always welcome here,” she said. “You’re not alone, Chat. You never have to be alone.”

He tugged her back to him, shaking as he tried not to cry, content to let the night pass them by.

**Author's Note:**

> "Mouais" is a pretty nuanced word, and it works really well in this episode which is why I kept in the French for the actual story. My translation doesn't exactly do it justice, but you get the point.
> 
>  
> 
> Hang out with me on tumblr at [jattendschaton.tumblr.com](https://jattendschaton.tumblr.com/)!


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